“Healthy future for the US market”

In the United States, pet food is a 34 per cent slice of a $ 57 billion pie that also comprises non-edible pet products and pet services, including veterinary products. Although the US pet market slowed during the 2008-2009 recession and its aftermath of economic uncertainty, pet food has continued to perform well, since many pet owners consider pet food to be at the forefront of their pet's preventive health regimen.During 2011, US pet food retail sales rose by 4.5 per cent to $19.2 billion, with only the considerably smaller non-medical pet services category doing better (5 per cent). At the centre of the US pet food market are products for dogs, which account for about two-thirds of the market total - to the tune of over $ 12 billion in 2011.Underscoring the shift to premium products in effect for several years now, sales of pet food in US pet speciality channels have been increasing at a much faster clip than the market overall. According to GfK Retail & Technology, which collects sales information from a sample of pet shops, farm & feed stores, and veterinary clinics across the US, US pet speciality retail sales of pet food rose 7 per cent in 2011, following 8.5 per cent growth in 2010 and 12 per cent growth in 2009. Excepting the 1 per cent decline in 2010, unit sales have also been good, up 5 per cent in 2009 and 6 per cent in 2011, while volume (pound) sales have progressed by 1-2 per cent annually. GfK segments pet speciality sales according to channel, with the 2011 figure breaking out into pet shops/pet retail at 68 per cent of sales, veterinary clinics at 16 per cent, and farm & feed stores at 16 per cent, and for the past two years, pet shops/pet retail have posted considerably faster rates of dollar growth than the other two channels.Pet food premiumisationAs noted, one of the strongest growth drivers in the US pet food market is premiumisation, with more and more pet owners opting for higher-priced products. Accordingly, most of the US pet market growth has been coming from higher-ticket sales as opposed to volume gains. Fuelling this trend is a steady stream of super-premium products, with natural and organic products especially important in the pet food aisle. In Packaged Facts' March 2012 Pet Owner Survey, 40 per cent of pet product buyers felt that natural/organic pet products are often better than standard national brand products, up from 30 per cent in the September 2011 survey.In this same vein, the trend toward…